edmo:You can always tell a bloated agency by what they spend their time on.

If you've ever seen the area where he planted these flowers, you'd understand. They're planted in a steep cobblestone embankment, alongside the top of one of the longest escalators in the Metro system. Allowing him to tend to the flowers is a lawsuit waiting to happen (especially since he informed them, in writing, of his intent to tend to the flowers)

El_Perro:edmo: You can always tell a bloated agency by what they spend their time on.

If you've ever seen the area where he planted these flowers, you'd understand. They're planted in a steep cobblestone embankment, alongside the top of one of the longest escalators in the Metro system. Allowing him to tend to the flowers is a lawsuit waiting to happen (especially since he informed them, in writing, of his intent to tend to the flowers)

Yeah, a roll down the entire Dupont Circle escalator would almost certainly be fatal. Still, they don't have to be such dicks about it.

El_Perro:edmo: You can always tell a bloated agency by what they spend their time on.

If you've ever seen the area where he planted these flowers, you'd understand. They're planted in a steep cobblestone embankment, alongside the top of one of the longest escalators in the Metro system. Allowing him to tend to the flowers is a lawsuit waiting to happen (especially since he informed them, in writing, of his intent to tend to the flowers)

If he was going to sue anyone for possible injuries, he would have done it by now. Their fears of "potential liability" are just a wee bit excessive here, I think.

Gyrfalcon:If he was going to sue anyone for possible injuries, he would have done it by now. Their fears of "potential liability" are just a wee bit excessive here, I think.

FTA:In addition, Docter has told Metro that he's willing to use a harness as Metro workers do. He'd sign a liability waiver saying he wouldn't sue Metro if he's hurt. "I've never gotten in trouble for planting flowers," Docter, 52, said last week. "Never has anyone overreacted with such an absence of common sense."

Warthog:Lsherm: edmo: You can always tell a bloated agency by what they spend their time on.

WMATA, the organization that runs the metro, is chock full of nepotistic hires and barely literate staff. It is literally a jobs program for the stupidest people DC has to offer.

It's a Washington Times series of articles, but the facts check out, and it's a great read if you want to know why the DC metro sucks so hard:

Part 1Part 2Part 3

Holy crap. I usually ignore the Times, but part 1 of that is scary. Never heard that make the rounds in other local media, though. I'd have figured WTOP would have mentioned it, but I don't recall it.

Transit columnist and local beat writers for the Washington Post have written about (a) unsafe busdrivers, (b) subway station managers who spend all day doing the crossword, (c) board members appointed by the various jurisdictions in VA, MD, & DC pulling down big $$ in salary and bennies, including boondoggle foreign trips, (d) board members who never use the system, etc.

I could see this being a security issue. If you're driving along the road in Afghanistan and see that someone has randomly dug up the side of the road to plant flowers, there's a good chance they put a bomb under them. If the metro police are being paranoid, they could think think this guy was plotting something similar at a major mass transit point.

El_Perro:edmo: You can always tell a bloated agency by what they spend their time on.

If you've ever seen the area where he planted these flowers, you'd understand. They're planted in a steep cobblestone embankment, alongside the top of one of the longest escalators in the Metro system. Allowing him to tend to the flowers is a lawsuit waiting to happen (especially since he informed them, in writing, of his intent to tend to the flowers)

Send him a legalese letter informing him they aren't responsible for injuries or problems caused by his activities, book it, done.

sendtodave:Lsherm: edmo: You can always tell a bloated agency by what they spend their time on.

WMATA, the organization that runs the metro, is chock full of nepotistic hires and barely literate staff. It is literally a jobs program for the stupidest people DC has to offer.

It's a Washington Times series of articles, but the facts check out, and it's a great read if you want to know why the DC metro sucks so hard:

Part 1Part 2Part 3

"If Caucasians or Hispanics want to put in for jobs, they have ample opportunity to apply - and once they become bus operators, they can go work in Southeast," she said

Wow.

For people that don't know DC, that is a threat.

It's saying "You want a job, and you're not black? We'll place you in an underprivileged area where you'll likely have to deal with racial violence every day. Sound good to you?"

But but but People of Color can't be racist, only evil whitey!!!

Great set of articles, and it blows my mind that they get away with that extensive a network of clear-cut racial discrimination. Even taking out how horrible Southeast is, why would whites and hispanics be confined to only working in one area of the city?

Vector R:Great set of articles, and it blows my mind that they get away with that extensive a network of clear-cut racial discrimination. Even taking out how horrible Southeast is, why would whites and hispanics be confined to only working in one area of the city?

Because that's the area that is the most dangerous, thus the most frightening.

Gyrfalcon:El_Perro: edmo: You can always tell a bloated agency by what they spend their time on.

If you've ever seen the area where he planted these flowers, you'd understand. They're planted in a steep cobblestone embankment, alongside the top of one of the longest escalators in the Metro system. Allowing him to tend to the flowers is a lawsuit waiting to happen (especially since he informed them, in writing, of his intent to tend to the flowers)

If he was going to sue anyone for possible injuries, he would have done it by now. Their fears of "potential liability" are just a wee bit excessive here, I think.

Because no one is ever an asshole.

Maybe he hadn't sued because he hadn't injured himself.

Let him sign a waiver first, with all the "heretofore"s and "wherein"s and other lawyer speak (at his expense), and then maybe let him back.

El_Perro:edmo: You can always tell a bloated agency by what they spend their time on.

If you've ever seen the area where he planted these flowers, you'd understand. They're planted in a steep cobblestone embankment, alongside the top of one of the longest escalators in the Metro system. Allowing him to tend to the flowers is a lawsuit waiting to happen (especially since he informed them, in writing, of his intent to tend to the flowers)

With a personal injury lawsuit, would there be a problem with planted evidence?

When it's farking running, maybe... Red line's been shut down north of Ft. Totten for near a goddamned week. If New York shut down the 1 train north of Columbus Circle for a week there would be farking riots.

Z-clipped:SacriliciousBeerSwiller: Best subway system in the country, bar none.

When it's farking running, maybe... Red line's been shut down north of Ft. Totten for near a goddamned week. If New York shut down the 1 train north of Columbus Circle for a week there would be farking riots.

/Oh but the DC metro is SO CLEAN!

Last week there was an "incident" at NoMa and everyone had to get off the train which was just past the station. They brought out wooden steps to get down and then single tracked it for the next hour until it was resolved. i think someone jumped it was really freaking weird we were the train behind it at Union Station. they were taking everyone off except for the first car when we went past. Then the next day we had to clear off the train at Takoma due to smoke/fire.

Z-clipped:SacriliciousBeerSwiller: Best subway system in the country, bar none.

When it's farking running, maybe... Red line's been shut down north of Ft. Totten for near a goddamned week. If New York shut down the 1 train north of Columbus Circle for a week there would be farking riots.

balki1867:El_Perro: I guess so, if you ignore that it's expensive, has no redundancy, is notoriously unreliable, and doesn't run 24 hours, then sure, best in the country.

There's only 4 rail systems that run 24 hours: NYC, PATH (NY/NJ), Philadelphia and the Chicago CTA. And even on the CTA, only the Red and Blue lines are 24 hours.

There would be 3 riders an hour on the other lines if they were open past 2 AM, and the mostly heavily trafficked part of the Brown line runs parallel to the Red line, the only difference being most of the stops.

balki1867:El_Perro: I guess so, if you ignore that it's expensive, has no redundancy, is notoriously unreliable, and doesn't run 24 hours, then sure, best in the country.

There's only 4 rail systems that run 24 hours: NYC, PATH (NY/NJ), Philadelphia and the Chicago CTA. And even on the CTA, only the Red and Blue lines are 24 hours.

And? I happen to think that the "Best subway system in the country, bar none," is one of those 4 (NYC) (full disclosure: I have no experience with the CTA).

Also, leaving aside the 24 hour issue, the DC Metro's unreliability and lack of redundancy are serious problems. Compare the Red line with the 1/2/3(/9) lines (for no other reason than that they're both red, and I've lived/worked off of both of them). If there are track problems on the 1/2/3 lines, commuters often have other options, both within the line (e.g., if there are problems on the local, all trains can be diverted to the express line, and vice versa) and on other lines that run parallel or in similar areas (depending on where the problems are). It may be a bit of a headache, but it's usually manageable.

On the other hand, if there are problems on the red line, service is often either suspended or trains may run on a single track in both directions. Both options are often a complete shiatshow (I worked off of the Blue line and lived off of the Red line for a while, and can't count the number of times I walked up the stairs at Metro Center to find the crowd on the Red line platform backed up all the way to the Blue/Orange line stairs/escalator).

I'm not saying the DC system is horrible - it's clean, comfortable, and (when working correctly) convenient. But, best in the country? no chance.

Lsherm:Z-clipped: SacriliciousBeerSwiller: Best subway system in the country, bar none.

When it's farking running, maybe... Red line's been shut down north of Ft. Totten for near a goddamned week. If New York shut down the 1 train north of Columbus Circle for a week there would be farking riots.

Z-clipped:SacriliciousBeerSwiller: Best subway system in the country, bar none.

When it's farking running, maybe... Red line's been shut down north of Ft. Totten for near a goddamned week. If New York shut down the 1 train north of Columbus Circle for a week there would be farking riots.